Practice Makes Perfect
by SasuNarufan13
Summary: Practice makes perfect, they always say. Sasuke is definitely proof of that. Naruto's pov; slash; fluff; more warnings inside


**Author's note: This oneshot grew a lot, lot bigger than I anticipated at first when I started writing it, but honestly, what else is new in my stories? ._.**

**Warnings: Naruto's pov; doesn't follow the epilogue; implied mature content; established slash; MPreg; set a couple of years into the future; fluff**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.**

**Dedicated to: Meehalla**

**I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

**Practice Makes Perfect**

"And? Do you find something?" Naruto asked, tense in spite of himself. He stared at the softly glowing hands hovering in front of his stomach, both hoping and not daring to hope that they had discovered something.

Tsunade retracted her hands and the glow disappeared when she stopped using her chakra. She tilted her head slightly to the left and quirked an eyebrow. "I was sure Kyuubi would have told you something by now."

He scowled; his fingers tightening around the edge of the examination table. "I'd have asked him, but that fluffy bastard's been laughing his arse off ever since he found out what we did."

Every time he met up with the fox demon, that arsehole just laughed and laughed, refusing to tell him anything. It was beyond frustrating and made him darkly acknowledge that there had been a reason why nobody had been fond of the Bijuu – aside from the obvious destruction they had tended to cause in the past of course.

But the destruction part was not the point; the point was that Kurama was being a pain in the arse for no reason – even more than he used to be in the past.

The corners of Tsunade's mouth twitched faintly as if she was supressing a smile. When she answered, though, her tone was brisk and business like. "I still have no clue how you two managed it, because there's no feasible way that this should be possible, but you managed to beat the odds again, brat. Your experiment succeeded."

He stared at her baffled, unsure whether he had heard her correctly, whether his ears weren't playing a trick on him. "You're – you're sure? I'm – we succeeded?"

Her face softened a fraction and she leant back against one of her file cabinets, crossing her arms underneath her impressive bosom. "Yes, I'm sure, Naruto. Your attempt was a success."

"Oh god," he laughed weakly, rubbing his hands over his face. He stared down at his stomach in wonder, amazed that they had actually managed it.

It had been an inane idea at the start, something they had discussed in jest. But slowly their joking around had turned into being serious about it until in the end they had decided to give it a try. Neither of them had really believed it would work, but well, nothing wrong with trying, right?

To think they actually succeeded, that their joke turned secret dream had turned into something real after all … There were no words to describe how amazing that was, how deliriously happy he was now. And if he was already this happy, just imagine how happy the other one would be when he would tell him that –

"Mind, I'm going to monitor you every month," she warned him, growing solemn again. "This is unpreceded and we have no idea how this will further develop. I will examine you every month to make sure nothing is going wrong. The moment you feel off or are experiencing any pain, you will tell me, understood? I'm being serious now, Naruto; I won't have you play with your life with this."

"I know, I know," he hastily reassured her. "I swear I'll let you do any test you want every month!" Anything as long as it meant he could get to keep this.

She snorted, the tension in the room evaporating once more. "You'll probably regret saying that after two months," she said amused. "When are you going to tell him?"

He nibbled on his lower lip and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "He said he'd be back the day after tomorrow, so then, I guess. I'm not going to tell him something as important as this through a note."

"I bet he'll be happy," she smirked.

"That's probably an understatement," he replied absently, remembering how long Sasuke had been without his family. Thinking about the Uchiha family automatically led to thoughts about the Council and he frowned, his mood souring. "Say, baa-chan, about the Council – will they - "

"They won't lift a finger against you two if they know what's good for them," she said coolly. "Uchiha deserves to have this as much as you do and if they think otherwise, they can take that up with me."

"I don't want you to get into trouble," he muttered guiltily. It was only now with the confirmation of what they had done, that he realised the can of worms they'd opened with that.

There was no way the Council would ever agree to this. Something of the last Uchiha heir and the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox together? The Council would rather throw themselves off the Hokage Rock than to ever allow that.

"Hey, listen to me, brat," she said strongly. "Out of all the people I know, you and Uchiha deserve this the most. Anyone who's against this can take it up with me and I swear to you, that'll be the last thing they'll ever do. Now cheer up, this is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of your life; don't let the Council's possible reaction ruin that."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Thanks, baa-chan," he smiled bashfully.

She shook her head and sighed exasperatedly. "Get out of here, I still have other patients to see before I can go home."

"All right, thanks again, for you know, wanting to help us," he said lightly, sliding off the table.

She gave him a deadpan look. "Who else would help you two idiots with this? At least this way I know for sure there won't be any medical hiccup happening."

"We really don't want that happening." He shuddered and waved at her. "See you, baa-chan!"

"Yeah, yeah, go away now. I still have other things to do. Unlike you now, my workload won't be reduced."

The implication in her grumbling comment made him grin, butterflies fluttering around in his stomach and he left her office in a far more cheerful mood than he had entered with.

He couldn't wait for Sasuke to come home!

* * *

He spent all day wondering how he would tell Sasuke the big news. He debated buying a baby doll and giving that to Sasuke, telling him he could practice with it, but that didn't feel right. Then he'd briefly considered putting a small loaf or something in the oven and having the other man guess the news with that clue, but …

No, that idea was discarded quickly as well. This news was immense, so significant that he couldn't make do with some kind of joke or hinting game. This deserved something more than just a stupid gift or a stupid joke. This was a new start for the both of them, giving them back something they had been missing for years – or in Naruto's case for basically all his life – and as such, it deserved to be told in the appropriate way.

The question was: what the hell was the appropriate way for this?

_You're thinking way too hard about this, kid_, Kurama rumbled; his giant head resting casually on his crossed paws.

Naruto turned to scowl at him, crossing his arms. "You're really no help at all, do you realise that?" he complained.

Kurama snorted, making his hair blow back. _You're the one who started all this, not me. Why should I fix your mess?_

"I'm not asking you to fix '_my mess_' because there isn't any mess," Naruto snapped. "I just want to find the right way to tell Sasuke about this; what's so wrong about that?"

The giant fox demon rolled his eyes. _Hey, numbskull, you could just blurt it out during mating like all the rest of that inane crap you spout then. I don't think he's going to care how you tell him._

But Naruto didn't care about the reassurance the fox gave him; he was focused on what Kurama had said before that. "You listen to us when we have sex?!" he yelped, turning a bright red, feeling both offended and embarrassed in equal degrees, which didn't help his burning cheeks at all.

_You're damn loud,__ kit._ Kurama glared at him. _I do my best to block it out, but you get way too loud sometimes. You really should work on that._

"Okay, that's enough talking for today!" Naruto waved his arms wildly and fled the space, leaving a madly cackling Kurama behind.

God, he could be so annoying! Again, no wonder nobody liked the Bijuu!

And damn it, now he still didn't know how to tell Sasuke!

* * *

Still half asleep, he became aware of a hand slipping underneath his shirt, palming his hip briefly before it slowly wandered up, idly caressing his side. He smiled, every cell in his body attuned to the newly arrived presence next to him in bed.

"I thought you'd get home tomorrow," he murmured; voice rough with sleep. He opened his eyes and searched for his alarm clock.

Not even two thirty yet. No wonder he was still very sleepy.

"Hm, there was nothing left for me to investigate there, so I decided to come home sooner," Sasuke murmured, nuzzling the back of his neck.

Rolling onto his back, Naruto caught the faint outline of Sasuke next to him; the curtains were drawn for the most part, but some moonlight still managed to wriggle its way between a tiny gap, allowing him to catch the gleam of dark eyes before Sasuke lowered his head to kiss his mouth.

"You injured?" Naruto questioned, kissing back, running his hands cursorily alongside Sasuke's back and arm.

He'd already changed into his sleeping wear, the blond man discovered; the empty sleeve of his left arm pinned back like he did with the majority of his clothes now.

Even in the darkness he could practically feel Sasuke rolling his eyes. "Of course not. Why would I be injured? I was just looking for information, not going after someone."

"Like you didn't encounter trouble before," Naruto grumbled, shivering absently when Sasuke's hand drifted up towards his chest; a thumb lightly brushing against his left nipple, making it pebble instantly underneath its touch.

"I'm not you," Sasuke snorted and serenely ignored the stomp Naruto gave his shoulder in outrage. "I only encountered some animals there; I was too far away from any village to find someone."

"Ah." Naruto paused. "Did you find anything interesting there?"

Sasuke sighed, his hand halting right above Naruto's stomach. "No, I thought I'd found something at first, but it turned out to be nothing as all the previous times." He switched subjects before Naruto could react to that. "And you, you had any interesting missions while I was gone?"

Only a couple in the two weeks Sasuke had been gone and those weren't anything really remarkable. One of them had been bringing new medicine to Suna, which had allowed him to catch up with Gaara for a couple of days, and another one had had him helping out Iruka in his classes. While that had been fun, it wasn't anything really noteworthy.

Sasuke's question, however, gave him the perfect opening to tell him the news. After spending the whole day racking his brain, trying to find the perfect way to inform his lover about the news, he finally had found it.

The answer had been Sasuke himself all along.

"Not really any special missions, but I did do something interesting today – or well, yesterday, I suppose," he corrected himself after another glance at the alarm clock.

"Oh? What did you do?"

Grinning, Naruto sat up and swiftly rolled on top of the dark haired man, straddling his hips. A soft noise of surprise escaped Sasuke, but his hand automatically clamped down around Naruto's hip, steadying him.

"I need you to do something for me," he said and he knew he'd piqued Sasuke's interest from the way he felt him still underneath him. "I want you to use your Sharingan and check my chakra."

"Is there something wrong with it?" Sasuke questioned; a hint of concern lurking in his voice. "Shouldn't you go see Tsunade or Sakura about this?"

"I already visited Tsunade," he reassured him, patting his right side. "But I just want you to check something to be certain."

"All right," Sasuke agreed, obviously wary, but willing to go along with Naruto's request regardless.

There was a flash of red illuminating the darkness as Sasuke activated his Sharingan and he sat up, so he could have a better look at the Jinchuuriki. Naruto held himself as still as possible, not wanting to move too much in case that ruined what he wanted Sasuke to find out. He had no idea if this would work, but the Sharingan could see chakra in a person's body, so Sasuke should be able to discover that –

"Something is messing with your chakra," Sasuke muttered, leaning a bit closer. "I can't really describe it, but it's like something got partly added to your chakra, mixing it. It's not the Kyuubi's and it's not mixed throughout your entire body either. It's strange, but that mixed chakra seems to be concentrated in your …" he trailed off and the hand around Naruto's hip tightened almost imperceptibly.

"Concentrated where?" Naruto asked innocently, but he could barely stop vibrating with excitement, eager for Sasuke to piece the clues together.

"In your abdomen," Sasuke answered almost inaudibly. His Sharingan started flickering between the regular form and the Eternal Mangekyou; glimpses of the purple colour of his Rinnegan peeking through his black hair when he sat up completely straight.

His new position brought his face partly into the faint moonlight and Naruto could see him debating about something, appearing like he wanted to ask a question, while at the same time not wanting to ask it.

The blond man just sat there, keeping silent for once, curious how his lover would finally react.

"This is real," Sasuke finally stated, eyes briefly flicking to his face before they fell down again; his gaze fixated on his stomach. "You're not – doing this yourself, right? This is – it's really happening now?"

Naruto thought he was the only one who could detect the note of vulnerability in Sasuke's voice, hear the cautious hope buried underneath layers of stoicism. He knew Sasuke hadn't really believed they could make this work. He'd agreed to trying with full conviction, no doubt about that, but he'd also done it with quite the dose of scepticism, not willing to believe that they would have this.

Not daring to believe it would work in the event they would fail. It was easier to be pessimistic about the outcome from the start – _"I'm being realistic here, Naruto, there's a difference, idiot."_ – than to be optimistic about it and risk getting disappointed.

Wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck, he pressed himself closer to the other man and sought out his mouth in the darkness, his lips pliant underneath his touch. Sasuke parted his lips willingly, but Naruto stopped the kiss before it could grow deeper.

"Yes, Sasuke, this is really happening," he murmured, pulling back slightly, seeking out eyes which were still flickering red and purple. "Tsunade confirmed it: I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby together." He couldn't help but start grinning, the knowledge of the tiny being inside of him filling him to the brim with happiness.

"We're going to have a baby," Sasuke repeated dazed, his hand leaving Naruto's hip. It briefly hovered in front of the Jinchuuriki's stomach as if uncertain, but then it palmed his flat – for now still at least – belly. A fine tremor went through the dark haired man, his hand trembling slightly before it pressed firmly against Naruto's stomach. "You're pregnant," he breathed out amazed.

Naruto nodded, his grin widening. "Yeah, I really am! Now Tsunade wants to give me a check-up each month, just to be on the safe side, but for now it looks like everything is going – _oomph_!" He moaned surprised when he was unexpectedly kissed quite fiercely and Sasuke made use of him being distracted to roll him onto his back, covering him with his own body.

"You really do manage the impossible every time, don't you, usuratonkachi?" Sasuke breathed out amazed; his teasing tone too weak to overcome the wonder in his voice.

Naruto shrugged and brought his legs up, wrapping them firmly around Sasuke's waist. "I told you it would work," he reminded him smugly, tugging lightly at some black locks. Sasuke's hair had got a bit longer again, he noted absently. "You really should start believing me from the start, because I'm clearly always right."

Sasuke snorted, nosing the hollow underneath his right ear. "I don't know about '_always'_," he smirked, "but I'll concede that at least this time you were indeed right."

Blue eyes rolled in exasperation. "Would it kill you to just admit that I'm always right?"

"Like I said, I don't know if it's always," Sasuke murmured and started kissing him again before he could form a retort.

Naruto was fine with that, though, for once. Because kissing led to them losing their clothes to feeling Sasuke's warm, naked skin against his own. It led to Sasuke touching him and him touching him in return, to Sasuke pressing tender kisses on his stomach before surging upwards and catching his mouth into yet another eager, deep kiss. It led to Sasuke preparing him carefully, taking care to stretch him properly, touching him in all those places he knew would drive the blond man wild.

It led to Sasuke finally sinking into him, filling him again and again; both of them desperate for each other's touch after having been separated for two weeks. More than familiarising themselves again with each other's body, giving in to the desperation, however, was the need to celebrate the momentous news, cement the fact that they would become parents.

Celebrate the fact that their family of two would finally be expanding after months of trying.

It was a night they would never forget.

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke up alone in bed, but the enticing scent of eggs and bacon informed him where Sasuke could be found. He raised both eyebrows and sat up, running a hand through his hair quickly. Man, Sasuke must be in a really good mood to be making both eggs and bacon. Usually Naruto was the one making breakfast, because Sasuke tended to think that just toast and a cup of coffee made for a suitable breakfast.

It had been quite surprising to find out that he with his ramen reverence still knew more about cooking than Sasuke did.

Mouth watering at the delicious breakfast waiting downstairs – Sasuke might not know much about cooking, but when he did, it always turned out amazing, because of course it did – he practically jumped out of bed and hastily did his business in the bathroom, hurrying downstairs before he'd even finished tugging down his shirt.

He'd thought he'd made enough of a ruckus for Sasuke to know he was awake, but when he went into the kitchen, he instantly realised Sasuke had no idea he'd woken up. If he knew, Naruto doubted he would let the blond man see him doing what he was currently doing, looking completely lost in his own world.

There were two pans on the stove, one with eggs and the other with bacon, but Sasuke wasn't paying them close attention. All his attention, instead, was focused on the bag of flour he'd retrieved from one of the lower cabinets. At first Naruto thought Sasuke was planning to make pancakes as well or so and that was why he'd put the flour bag onto the kitchen counter.

As he watched from his spot in the kitchen doorway, however, he saw Sasuke staring at the bag with a severe frown on his face, appearing to contemplate something. He was only dressed in his pyjama trousers and a grey apron to protect his bare chest from the bacon grease; his back and shoulder muscles shifted as he bent down slightly, picking up the bag awkwardly in his remaining arm. He used the stump of his other arm to carefully adjust the bag in the crook of his arm; his frown deepening even more whilst doing so.

Transfixed and confused, Naruto stared as Sasuke clumsily rocked the bag a couple of times before cautiously placing it back onto the counter. He checked the eggs and the bacon before starting the process of picking up the bag of flour with one arm again, it going a tad smoother now.

It took Naruto watching him doing it two more times after that before he finally realised why Sasuke was acting so strange with a flour bag of all things.

_He was practicing picking up a baby._

The constant picking up of the bag, the rocking, the adjusting with his stump, the caution with which he handled it every time even though it was just a simple bag of flour … There was no other explanation than that he was practicing picking up their child with his one arm.

He hadn't realised Sasuke had been worried about that. Naruto had opted to get an artificial arm, but Sasuke had declined Tsunade's offer back then for reasons he still refused to talk about. He never seemed bothered by the fact that he only had one complete arm left, so Naruto hadn't stopped to think that Sasuke might be feeling insecure how he would handle raising a child with only one arm.

It looked like he had found a way to assuage his worries in the end.

Feeling very emotional all of a sudden – he was totally going to blame that on the hormones, ignoring Kurama's cackling laughter – he slipped out of the kitchen before Sasuke could take notice of him and quietly got the camera, a gift from Sai, out of a drawer in the living room. On his tip toes he made his way back to the kitchen, hoping Sasuke was still practicing.

He was.

Naruto waited until Sasuke had the bag in the crook of his arm again before he quickly snapped a picture of it, wanting to immortalise it for later. Their baby deserved to know how much their papa had been looking forward to them, to the point that he was even practicing with a flour bag. Just to make sure he wouldn't drop their baby.

He was just about to sneak off again, hiding the camera, but then Sasuke suddenly turned around and promptly grew red when he spotted Naruto in the doorway.

Dropping the bag onto the counter, he snapped agitatedly, "What the hell are you doing with that camera, idiot?"

Not at all deterred by the tone of voice or even the insult, knowing it was just the other man lashing out in embarrassment, Naruto simply smiled and crossed the distance between them in just a couple of steps, slinging his arms around Sasuke's waist and depositing the camera next to the bag.

"Just something to show our kid later how much their papa was looking forward to having them," he murmured, pecking his mouth.

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered, still flustered, but he didn't make any move to try to delete the picture. He did wrap his arm around Naruto's shoulders, pulling him closer.

"Hey, you know what they say," Naruto said in a sing-song voice, grinning widely. "Practice makes perfect!"

Sasuke groaned, dropping his head down on Naruto's left shoulder. "If the gods have any sort of mercy left for me, they'll make sure our baby inherits more of me than of you."

"You're mean," Naruto whined, pinching Sasuke's side. "How can you be so awful to the one carrying your baby?" He pouted, batting his eyelashes exaggeratedly.

Sasuke raised his head and snorted when he saw Naruto batting his eyelashes at him. "Like I said, you're an idiot," he said, sounding fond. "Come on now, let's eat. Breakfast is ready."

Naruto perked up, eyeing the eggs and strips of bacon with interest. "Does this mean you're going to make breakfast every morning?" he asked hopefully, sniffing the air appreciatively.

"Don't push it," Sasuke warned him, but his eyes were dancing with laughter. "This is a special occasion."

"Mean." Naruto stuck out his tongue, stepping back so Sasuke could turn off the stove. "Just for that, I'm getting extra bacon. I'm eating for two now after all."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at him and smirked. "You already ate like you were eating for two before you got pregnant – are you going to eat for three now then?" he teased.

Naruto gasped mock affronted, placing his hand on his chest before looking down at his stomach. "Do you hear that, baby? Your papa is being very mean now; don't get too much of his personality, you hear me?"

"If he or she is going to be anything like you, they're not going to listen to you anyways," Sasuke remarked lightly, kissing him quickly before he started plating their breakfast.

"Aren't fathers-to-be supposed to be really sweet and nice to their expecting partner?" Naruto huffed, dropping down into one of the kitchen chairs. "Just for that, if I'm going to get that whole morning sickness bullshit, I'm going to throw up on you."

"You'd have to be able to catch me first," Sasuke smirked.

"ARE YOU SAYING I'M SLOWER THAN YOU, BASTARD!"

They spent the entire breakfast bickering and teasing each other; their chairs next to each other for once and Sasuke finding every excuse to touch his stomach.

* * *

Sasuke kept practicing with the flour bag, because after all, practice makes perfect and their kid? Deserved nothing less than perfection from both his or her parents. They would definitely make sure of that.

**The End**

* * *

**AN2: I don't know what happened at the end - they just kept talking *throws hands up***

**Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.**

**I hope to see you all back in my future stories!**

**Cuddles**

**Melissa**

**P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.**


End file.
